0:00:07 > 0:00:10'This is Chesil Beach in Dorset.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14'In January 1943, a British engineer called Barnes Wallis
0:00:14 > 0:00:17'came here to carry out full-scale trials of his latest invention.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20'A bomb that could bounce on water.'
0:00:20 > 0:00:25A bomb that could smash the dams so critical to Germany's industrial heartland.
0:00:26 > 0:00:30By the end of the month, the trials had show that the weapon could work
0:00:30 > 0:00:34and Wallis was now armed with the film footage to prove it.
0:00:40 > 0:00:44'Despite the positive reaction, there were many who still believed
0:00:44 > 0:00:46'this would be an impossible mission to mount
0:00:46 > 0:00:49'and a wasteful diversion of resources.'
0:00:49 > 0:00:52When word reached him that the project was likely to be scrapped,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56Wallis realised he had just one card left to play.
0:00:58 > 0:01:00'On 12th February 1943,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04'Wallis wrote to an old friend in Air Intelligence, a spook,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07'appealing to him for his support.'
0:01:07 > 0:01:11On the face of it, he's reporting on the latest trial down here
0:01:11 > 0:01:15and he reports that the bomb managed to bounce exactly three quarters of a mile.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18But at the end of the note, he gets to the crux of it.
0:01:18 > 0:01:23This is a plea, a cri de coeur, and he writes three words in pen.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25"Help, oh, help."
0:01:26 > 0:01:29Wallis had done all he could.
0:01:29 > 0:01:32The fate of the project was now out of his hands.
0:01:45 > 0:01:49'It's one of the great legends of the Second World War.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54'A radical new weapon, a raid of daring and courage.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03'19 Lancasters fly deep into the heart of the Third Reich
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'at night at just 100 feet.
0:02:07 > 0:02:12'History knows them as the Dam Busters.
0:02:23 > 0:02:26'But I think there is so much more to this story.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36'I want to shake off the dust of a legend that has remained unchallenged for too long.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'This is a raid that nearly didn't get off the ground.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44'A weapon that almost never worked.
0:02:47 > 0:02:53'A frantic race against the clock to master almost impossible feats of low-level flying and navigation.
0:02:56 > 0:03:01'Its commander, a flawed hero leading hastily-scrambled crews.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05'Some with little experience.
0:03:09 > 0:03:13'And its impact was more than just a few broken dams.
0:03:16 > 0:03:21'The damage was far-reaching and came at a critical moment in the Second World War.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29'By 1943, the tide was beginning to turn against the Third Reich.
0:03:29 > 0:03:34'In Russia, Germany had suffered a humiliating surrender at Stalingrad.
0:03:34 > 0:03:38'In North Africa, a crushing defeat now seemed certain.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'And on a third front, over Germany's skies,
0:03:41 > 0:03:46'the allies were about to launch a concentrated aerial bomber campaign.'
0:03:48 > 0:03:51When the storm bursts over Germany, they will...
0:03:51 > 0:03:55'Air Marshal Sir Arthur Harris was Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59'For a year, he had been building to this moment,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03'his bomber force slowly growing, technology improving.
0:04:05 > 0:04:10'The task given to him - to pursue a strategy of area bombing,
0:04:10 > 0:04:16'dropping huge numbers of bombs from on high to pulverise German cities.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21'But others were not convinced this strategy was the way to win the war.
0:04:21 > 0:04:26'Among them, engineers like Barnes Neville Wallis.
0:04:30 > 0:04:33'Wallis was assistant chief designer at Vickers Aviation
0:04:33 > 0:04:38'and was best known for the R100 airship and his work on the Wellington Bomber.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45'I'm taking his daughters back to their childhood home in Effingham, Surrey
0:04:45 > 0:04:48'for the first time since the house was sold over 30 years ago.'
0:04:48 > 0:04:51- That was the garage. No!- That was my bedroom.- That was the garage.
0:04:51 > 0:04:54- It's the same.- Oh, heavens!
0:04:54 > 0:05:00- This was made with pram wheels, is that right? - The pram wheels were at the top.
0:05:00 > 0:05:03- They still are, look. - Mind your head.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06When I heard about the Dam Busters raid success,
0:05:06 > 0:05:09there was a door and it had a green curtain
0:05:09 > 0:05:11- and the large speaker of the radio. - Yes.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15And I stood up on a kitchen chair which I have in my house to this day
0:05:15 > 0:05:18- and listened to them saying about the success of the raid.- Golly.
0:05:18 > 0:05:22- The thing about our father was that he was very practical indeed.- Yes.
0:05:22 > 0:05:27- He was not a silly man.- No drifting. Never talked in a vague sort of way.
0:05:27 > 0:05:30- He was certainly strict with me. - With all of us.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33- He looked over the top of his spectacles.- My dear boy.
0:05:33 > 0:05:36My dear child. My dear girl.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40- But you also said he was a lot of fun, as well.- Oh, he was lovely.
0:05:41 > 0:05:45'As number two designer at Vickers, Wallis was given latitude to work on other ideas.
0:05:48 > 0:05:54'Early in the war, he circulated a paper about his own ideas for defeating the Axis powers.
0:05:54 > 0:05:59'He believed single, large, earthquake bombs dropped with precision
0:05:59 > 0:06:02'could be more destructive than area bombing.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10'His target - the enemy's power sources.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13'It was an engineer's way of stopping the war.'
0:06:14 > 0:06:17With no power, there could be no war industry.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20Take the key out of the ignition and the car won't work.
0:06:20 > 0:06:23This meant not destroying cities,
0:06:23 > 0:06:25but coal mines, oil plants,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27and of course white coal, water.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30In other words, dams.
0:06:30 > 0:06:34'In particular, Wallis picked out the Mohne and Sorpe in the Ruhr,
0:06:34 > 0:06:37'and the Eder, Germany's largest dam.
0:06:37 > 0:06:40'These were sources of power and pride.'
0:06:41 > 0:06:45TRANSLATOR: People were proud that the dam had been built here
0:06:45 > 0:06:49- TRANSLATOR: It was something special we had.- Many visitors came.
0:06:49 > 0:06:52It was the biggest dam in Germany.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56The Kaiser was also here during construction
0:06:56 > 0:06:59to see the progress of the building, to see how it was growing.
0:07:02 > 0:07:07'Professor Jeremy Black believes these dams had a particular significance in Germany.'
0:07:07 > 0:07:12These were iconic dams. I mean, dams as a whole were iconic in the mid 20th century.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15But also, we're not on some beach in Pomerania,
0:07:15 > 0:07:18we're not on some place in Mecklenburg,
0:07:18 > 0:07:21you are in the central area of concern.
0:07:21 > 0:07:26You are affecting the absolute focus of the military industrial complex in Germany.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31'Dams may have been an ideal target, but early in the war,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35'the precision bombing needed to smash them was unachievable.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40'In April 1942, a low-level raid on Augsburg had ended in disaster
0:07:40 > 0:07:43'with more than half the force shot down.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50'But technology did not stand still.
0:07:50 > 0:07:54'Undeterred, Wallis now thought of a new weapon.
0:07:54 > 0:07:57'A bomb that could bounce on water.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00'And his inspiration came from an unlikely source.
0:08:05 > 0:08:11'This image of Barnes Wallis experimenting with his daughter's marbles is a famous one.
0:08:13 > 0:08:18'But who actually thought to skip the marbles in the first place is still hotly debated.
0:08:19 > 0:08:24- They were my marbles that I collected.- Yes, but you didn't have the water tub.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28It was me that had the tub and I shot them into it. It was my game.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31It was. There were good marbles that went into the water
0:08:31 > 0:08:34and naughty marbles that went onto the crazy paving.
0:08:34 > 0:08:38- In that case, darling, it would've been after he'd done that test.- No.
0:08:38 > 0:08:41- This is her all over. - We're not going to get it straight.
0:08:41 > 0:08:46- This is her all over. - And that's her all over. THEY LAUGH
0:08:46 > 0:08:48Rotter!
0:08:49 > 0:08:53'When Wallis first thought of the bouncing bomb, the target in mind wasn't dams,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56'it was ships.
0:08:56 > 0:08:58'Capital ships like the mighty Tirpitz,
0:08:58 > 0:09:02'lying in a Norwegian fjord, protected by anti-torpedo nets
0:09:02 > 0:09:04'and a threat to allied convoys.
0:09:04 > 0:09:08'With a bouncing bomb, Wallis realised he could get over the nets.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11'For the Navy, the appeal was obvious.'
0:09:11 > 0:09:15Admiralty interest certainly was the catalyst
0:09:15 > 0:09:20which actually took the golf mine, as it was known at that stage,
0:09:20 > 0:09:26from being a concept, a set of mathematical formula and small-scale trials films,
0:09:26 > 0:09:32it was the catalyst which brought it forward to producing the first prototypes dropped off Chesil Beach.
0:09:40 > 0:09:43'In fact, without the support of Admiralty,
0:09:43 > 0:09:47'it's likely that the bouncing bomb would never have seen the light of day.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55'At this point, Wallis still thought of his new bomb as a naval weapon.
0:09:55 > 0:09:59'Not only were the German dams also protected by anti-torpedo nets,
0:09:59 > 0:10:03'the size of any working bomb that could destroy such huge structures
0:10:03 > 0:10:06'would be too big for existing planes to carry.
0:10:08 > 0:10:14'Just five miles from Chesil Beach, you can still find one of the early versions of the bouncing bomb.
0:10:14 > 0:10:17'I've come to Abbotsbury to have a look.'
0:10:17 > 0:10:19Ah, here it is.
0:10:19 > 0:10:25This is the prototype. The prototype bouncing bomb that was used during the trials at Chesil Beach.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30But as you can see, it's got these little dimples on it, so it was known as the golf mine.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35During the trials, they were constantly experimenting with different types of aerodynamics,
0:10:35 > 0:10:40so some had smooth casing, some were wood, some were steel, some had these dimples.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45'But Wallis wasn't the only one urgently researching new types of weapons.
0:10:46 > 0:10:50'At the Road Research Laboratory, scientists hadn't give up
0:10:50 > 0:10:52'seeking ways to destroy dams.
0:10:55 > 0:10:57'They were experimenting on scale models,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01'trying to establish how much explosive would be needed to cause a breach.
0:11:02 > 0:11:06'In May 1942 came a breakthrough.'
0:11:06 > 0:11:11The discovery came almost by accident when a scale model was deliberately broken up
0:11:11 > 0:11:13by placing a charge against the dam wall.
0:11:13 > 0:11:18What was significant was not where the charge was placed. That was basic physics.
0:11:18 > 0:11:22The breakthrough came through the combination of using a small amount of charge
0:11:22 > 0:11:24against the dam wall and underwater.
0:11:26 > 0:11:31'Crucially, the model had been destroyed using much less explosive than expected.
0:11:31 > 0:11:35'For Wallis, there was new hope that a dam-busting bouncing bomb
0:11:35 > 0:11:38'could be carried on existing aircraft.
0:11:38 > 0:11:42'His theory gained weight on 24th July 1942
0:11:42 > 0:11:47'when the test was scaled up on a real dam at Nantgarw in Wales.
0:11:47 > 0:11:50'The result was spectacular.'
0:11:53 > 0:11:56What this meant for Wallis was that it should now be possible
0:11:56 > 0:12:00to deliver a bouncing bomb capable of destroying the German dams
0:12:00 > 0:12:03using existing aircraft, namely Lancasters,
0:12:03 > 0:12:07which were built by Vickers rival AV Roe.
0:12:08 > 0:12:10'By the end of January 1943,
0:12:10 > 0:12:14'trials on the prototype confirmed the bouncing bomb could work
0:12:14 > 0:12:17'against ships and dams.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20'Those who saw Wallis's film were impressed.
0:12:20 > 0:12:25'But to many, getting the weapon to its target still seemed a fantastical proposition.
0:12:25 > 0:12:29'Air Vice-Marshal Linnell at the Ministry of Aircraft Production was a sceptic.
0:12:29 > 0:12:34'He believed the weapon was unworkable and distracting from Wallis's first priority,
0:12:34 > 0:12:38'crucial development of the new heavy bomber, the Vickers Windsor.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:41If you look at a lot of the documentation,
0:12:41 > 0:12:44there's always this great caveat saying,
0:12:44 > 0:12:47"We mustn't interfere with the development work on the Windsor."
0:12:47 > 0:12:50That was something that Vickers were very concerned with,
0:12:50 > 0:12:54that Wallis shouldn't be deflected off on a project
0:12:54 > 0:12:58which, up until the last minute, in many respects,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02I think a lot of people felt was a project doomed to failure.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05'But still trials continues.
0:13:05 > 0:13:08'Then, on 12th February 1943,
0:13:08 > 0:13:13'Wallis learned that Linnell was moving quickly to get the bomb rejected.
0:13:13 > 0:13:17'Fearing for his project, Wallis now wrote his fateful letter to the spy,
0:13:17 > 0:13:20'Group Captain Fred Winterbotham,
0:13:20 > 0:13:25'a last-ditch appeal to his only friend on the inside with the influence to make an impact.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27'Help, oh, help.'
0:13:27 > 0:13:30Winterbotham didn't reply directly to Wallis,
0:13:30 > 0:13:32but his response, the next letter in the chain,
0:13:32 > 0:13:37was a masterpiece of cunning and suggestion which took matters to the very top.
0:13:37 > 0:13:40He chose to write his letter to Air Vice-Marshal Inglis,
0:13:40 > 0:13:44one of the assistant chiefs of the air staff, and in just a few short paragraphs,
0:13:44 > 0:13:48managed to imply that the prime minister's office were interested, which they weren't,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52and that the Navy was about to steal a march over the RAF in the use of this weapon.
0:13:52 > 0:13:58But for me, the killer line was when he implies that the chief of the air staff hadn't been fully briefed.
0:13:58 > 0:14:03This letter might have been to Inglis, but it was for one person and one person only,
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and that was the most senior Air Force officer in the land,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal.
0:14:09 > 0:14:14'It was a long shot because Portal had set the current strategy of area bombing.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19'Even worse, other influential forces were gathering against Wallis's bigger bomb,
0:14:19 > 0:14:24'now called Upkeep. Linnell was an old friend and colleague of Arthur Harris
0:14:24 > 0:14:27'and warned him of what was being conspired.
0:14:27 > 0:14:29'Harris was having none of it.'
0:14:29 > 0:14:34Harris was never known to mince his words, but in this letter to Portal on 18th February 1943,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37he really lets rip with all guns blazing.
0:14:37 > 0:14:42He talks about panacea-mongers running amok in the Ministry of Aircraft Production
0:14:42 > 0:14:47and points out that the weapon itself exists so far only in the mind of those who invented it.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51He says this is "just about the maddest proposition as a weapon that we've yet come across
0:14:51 > 0:14:53"and that's saying something!"
0:14:53 > 0:14:58He then says he's prepared to bet his shirt that nothing will ever come of it.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02It's pure Harris. But you know what? I think he's got a point.
0:15:02 > 0:15:07I think if I was Harris and I'd learnt there was talk of 30 of my front-line Lancasters
0:15:07 > 0:15:12being taken away to carry a weapon that still only existed in the mind of Wallis,
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I think I'd have been every bit as furious.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23'Harris immediately assured Linnell he would put a stop to Upkeep.
0:15:23 > 0:15:27'Linnell in turn warned Vickers chairman Charles Craven
0:15:27 > 0:15:30'that Wallis was damaging his business interests.
0:15:30 > 0:15:33'Wallis, berated by his boss, resigned.
0:15:33 > 0:15:38'But his earlier plea to Winterbotham had already lit a fuse.
0:15:38 > 0:15:41'As Harris and Linnell moved to shut the project down,
0:15:41 > 0:15:45'Winterbotham's letter to Inglis had reached the man at the top.'
0:15:45 > 0:15:49When Harris had written his rather outraged letter to Portal on 18th February,
0:15:49 > 0:15:53he'd have fully expected the chief of the air staff to support him in his views.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58But he was in for something of a shock. It seems that Winterbotham's letter had done the trick
0:15:58 > 0:16:00because by the following day, 19th February,
0:16:00 > 0:16:04Portal had not only been fully briefed, he'd also seen Wallis's film.
0:16:04 > 0:16:07And so he writes to Harris and says, from what he's seen,
0:16:07 > 0:16:13he feels this project is worth supporting and then he adds, "unless the cinema lies".
0:16:13 > 0:16:17He does assure Harris that he's only going to take away three of his precious Lancasters,
0:16:17 > 0:16:22but by a week later, on 26th February, three has become 30.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24One can only speculate as to how this came about,
0:16:24 > 0:16:29but I think it was a combination of momentum, the shortness of time
0:16:29 > 0:16:32and possibly even the RAF wanting to get one over the Royal Navy.
0:16:32 > 0:16:38What is does go to show is that this was always about politics and personalities
0:16:38 > 0:16:40as much as it was about the science.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44And I think in this extraordinary chain of letters, we have the proof of this.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49'Incredibly, Portal ordered Linnell to green-light the project,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53'even though Wallis's larger Upkeep had yet to be designed.
0:16:53 > 0:16:58'On Friday 26th February, Wallis was summoned up to London by Linnell
0:16:58 > 0:17:01'to discuss a major strike against the German dams.
0:17:03 > 0:17:06'The bouncing bomb was back on.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09'Any attack would have to happen by the full moon in May
0:17:09 > 0:17:13'and Wallis's weapon would have to be ready in just two months.
0:17:15 > 0:17:17'"Could this be done?" he was asked bluntly.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20'"Yes," Wallis replied, "it could."
0:17:20 > 0:17:25I've often wondered whether Barnes Wallis ever truly believed he could deliver what he'd promised.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28The weapon he was proposing still only existed in his mind
0:17:28 > 0:17:32and he didn't yet know what it would take to modify the Lancaster
0:17:32 > 0:17:35so that it could carry and deliver the Upkeep to the target.
0:17:35 > 0:17:39As he stepped out of the Ministry of Aircraft Production here on Millbank,
0:17:39 > 0:17:42one can only imagine what must have been going through his mind.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47Somehow he had to make good his words and in just eight weeks.
0:17:50 > 0:17:56'Barnes Wallis faced a race against the clock to produce a working bomb from a primitive prototype.
0:17:58 > 0:18:00'He was confident in his calculations
0:18:00 > 0:18:05'but no weapon of scale had ever been developed in so short a time.
0:18:07 > 0:18:10'The clock was also ticking for Bomber Command.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13'A new special squadron had to be formed at RAF Scampton
0:18:13 > 0:18:16'and in record quick time.
0:18:16 > 0:18:20'They were to train for a mission, but would not be told the target,
0:18:20 > 0:18:23'delivering a weapon that didn't yet exist.
0:18:25 > 0:18:28'The plan was to fly from Lincolnshire across the North Sea
0:18:28 > 0:18:31'below the German radar at just 100 feet.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35'The target was the dams at the head of the Ruhr Valley,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37'the industrial heart of Germany.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43'The primary targets were the Mohne, the Sorpe,
0:18:43 > 0:18:46'and Germany's largest dam, the Eder.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50'These were the pride of the Reich.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54'Wind Commander Guy Gibson was the man chosen to lead the mission.
0:18:54 > 0:18:57'He alone was told the targets.'
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Guy Gibson was a hugely experienced bomber and night-fighter pilot.
0:19:02 > 0:19:07A man who always led from the front and who exuded confidence and determination.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11He was also a more complex character than has often been portrayed.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16When he took over 617, he had just finished an 11-month stint commanding 106 Squadron
0:19:16 > 0:19:20and was exhausted both physically and mentally.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23The pressures of command were absolutely immense.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28It's easy to forget that Gibson was still only 24.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33'Operational planning often took Gibson away from Scampton
0:19:33 > 0:19:37'and he still had his own training to fit around the demands of his new command.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41'This combination of absence and strict discipline
0:19:41 > 0:19:44'earned him a reputation for being distant and aloof.'
0:19:46 > 0:19:50I don't think Gibson was actually bothered with non-commissioned ranks.
0:19:50 > 0:19:55He did draw that line of distinction between officers and NCOs and other ranks.
0:19:57 > 0:20:01'Sergeant Johnny Johnson joined the Dam Busters Squadron as a bomb aimer.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10'He was one of the first to arrive in late March.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19'I'm taking him back to number two hangar
0:20:19 > 0:20:22'where Gibson and his staff ran the squadron.'
0:20:22 > 0:20:24Well done, Johnny. Well done.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29So this is the old place.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32- Yeah.- My God.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39'It's often thought that Gibson handpicked every pilot and crew.
0:20:39 > 0:20:41'It's not true.
0:20:41 > 0:20:44'Johnny Johnson's pilot was Joe McCarthy.
0:20:44 > 0:20:49'An American, he was one of only four pilots known personally to Guy Gibson.'
0:20:50 > 0:20:54Dad said he received a phone call from Gibson
0:20:54 > 0:20:57and he asked him if he would come for a new squadron for one mission
0:20:57 > 0:21:03and told him to bring as much of his crew as possible.
0:21:04 > 0:21:09McCarthy's crew had just finished a tour of 30 operations and were due leave.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Johnny Johnson had planned his wedding for the break,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15but Gibson had cancelled all leave.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18Johnson's wedding plans were in ruins.
0:21:18 > 0:21:23'Outraged, Joe McCarthy went to see Gibson with Johnny and crew in tow.'
0:21:23 > 0:21:26So the last time you were here was in March 1943?
0:21:26 > 0:21:29- That's right, yeah.- Amazing.
0:21:29 > 0:21:35And if you can imagine, apart from Gibson at his desk over there,
0:21:35 > 0:21:40- seven of us in here, as well.- All lined up along here?- A bit crowded.
0:21:40 > 0:21:43And Gibson said, "What? What's this all about?"
0:21:43 > 0:21:49From my point of view, there was going to be bloody murder if we didn't get any leave.
0:21:49 > 0:21:52So then Joe said to the wing commander,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I suppose in his typical American style,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58"We've just finished our first tour.
0:21:58 > 0:22:02"We're entitled to a week's leave. My bomb aimer's
0:22:02 > 0:22:06"supposed to be getting married on 3rd April and he's going to get married on 3rd April!"
0:22:06 > 0:22:10We got four days, so that was it.
0:22:13 > 0:22:16'Johnny's honeymoon would have to wait.'
0:22:17 > 0:22:22That was my only personal association with Gibson.
0:22:22 > 0:22:29He seemed to have great difficulty in getting down to talking to people below his rank.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33So we didn't see much of him as NCOs at all.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36But he was, at that stage,
0:22:36 > 0:22:41one of the most, if not the most, experienced bomber pilots in the Air Force.
0:22:41 > 0:22:45I think his real leadership came to the fore
0:22:45 > 0:22:47when he took over this new squadron,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50because he got everything that he wanted for that squadron.
0:22:51 > 0:22:55'And it wasn't just airmen Gibson needed.'
0:22:55 > 0:22:59The seven crew, they're the cutting edge of the weapon, but behind it all
0:22:59 > 0:23:04is a vast support team. You can liken it to a Formula One team
0:23:04 > 0:23:07where no matter how good the driver,
0:23:07 > 0:23:10he's basically only as good as his pit crew.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14'To keep one Lancaster flying, as well as air crew,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17'there's the parachute packer, the meteorologist
0:23:17 > 0:23:19'and the flight controller.
0:23:19 > 0:23:22'The bomb train, the flight maintenance crew,
0:23:22 > 0:23:27'the aircraft mechanics, the mobile workshop and the petrol bowser.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37- 'That's 500 people thrown together to form a brand new squadron.' - OK, sir!
0:23:37 > 0:23:44'Incredibly, it was managed, just about, in one week. An unprecedented effort.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49'But that was only the start. Operation Chastise, as the raid would be known,
0:23:49 > 0:23:53'demanded a completely new approach to flying.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58'Low level, at night, over water and dropping a bomb with extreme precision.
0:23:58 > 0:24:02'They had just six weeks to perfect this.'
0:24:02 > 0:24:05Starting out with practice missions at 500 feet
0:24:05 > 0:24:10and then after a day or two, they'd lower it down to 200 feet
0:24:10 > 0:24:14and then 100 feet as they became more comfortable flying the aircraft.
0:24:14 > 0:24:19And doing all these navigation exercises and ending up
0:24:19 > 0:24:22at a reservoir some place where they could drop a practice bomb.
0:24:22 > 0:24:27'Joe's wife Shere is also the child of a Dam Buster.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31'Her father, John Fraser, was a bomb aimer.'
0:24:31 > 0:24:35Dad was called up when he'd just finished his 30 trips.
0:24:35 > 0:24:38He was supposed to have a break.
0:24:38 > 0:24:43And he got called up to go to 617 Squadron.
0:24:43 > 0:24:47He wrote home a lot to Canada to his mom.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52He'd be flying over Berlin and he'd be describing this to his mother.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55It sounded like a boy.
0:24:56 > 0:24:58He was 20 on the dams raid.
0:24:59 > 0:25:03'The last surviving Dam Buster pilot is Les Munro.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05'He recalls his training well.'
0:25:05 > 0:25:09In the early stages, some pilots were not quite adept
0:25:09 > 0:25:12at judging how quickly they were approaching objects ahead of them.
0:25:12 > 0:25:16There were a number of cases where pilots had clipped the tops of trees
0:25:16 > 0:25:20and planes returned with leaves and twigs in their air intake.
0:25:20 > 0:25:22'And the crews still didn't know their targets,
0:25:22 > 0:25:26'only that they had to fly insanely low.'
0:25:26 > 0:25:29There's a place in Lincolnshire called Sutton Bridge.
0:25:29 > 0:25:34But before you get to the bridge, the electric cables go across the canal, as well.
0:25:34 > 0:25:39- And the practice, when we got round there, was to fly under the cables and up over the bridge.- No.
0:25:39 > 0:25:41- It was great. - So how high are the cables?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44- A bit higher than the bridge. - THEY LAUGH
0:25:45 > 0:25:48It was part of the thrill of being part of 617 Squadron.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51'It was a steep learning curve for all,
0:25:51 > 0:25:54'but for some more than others.
0:25:54 > 0:25:58'Rear gunner Grant McDonald had flown just seven missions.'
0:25:58 > 0:26:00What do you remember of the low flying?
0:26:00 > 0:26:03- It must have been quite fun, wasn't it?- Ooh, yeah, yeah.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05It was something all right.
0:26:06 > 0:26:09It, er...
0:26:09 > 0:26:13..comes very, very quickly on you, the ground comes very, very quickly.
0:26:15 > 0:26:21'Grant McDonald was Canadian. In fact, nearly a third of the Dam Busters came from the empire.'
0:26:24 > 0:26:28- Hi, Gavin.- Hi.- How are you? - Nice to meet you.- And you.
0:26:28 > 0:26:33'I've come to Brisbane to uncover the letters of Australian wireless operator Charlie Williams.
0:26:33 > 0:26:39'When he reported to Scampton in early April, he was horrified by the chaos he found.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43'His letters to his English fiancee, Bobbie, offer a rare insight
0:26:43 > 0:26:46'and sense of immediacy into conditions on the ground.'
0:26:46 > 0:26:49This first letter in the collection is written on the day he arrives.
0:26:49 > 0:26:54He's anything but cheerful about being there. Nor is he impressed by what he discovered at Scampton.
0:26:54 > 0:26:57He says, "Things are in a bit of a mess here.
0:26:57 > 0:27:02"The mess is full to overflowing. All I can get is a room for the night with a bed and nothing else."
0:27:02 > 0:27:06But what's really interesting about this, of course, is the date, 7th April,
0:27:06 > 0:27:11which is two whole weeks after Gibson and some of the first members of the squadron
0:27:11 > 0:27:15have started to form at Scampton. Which means, in total, just five weeks to prepare for
0:27:15 > 0:27:19what is undoubtedly going to be an extremely arduous and difficult operation.
0:27:23 > 0:27:27'The planned 30 Lancasters had been reduced to 20
0:27:27 > 0:27:31'and each was now modified to carry a giant bouncing bomb.
0:27:32 > 0:27:37'I've asked a current pilot along to look at one of these legendary aircraft.
0:27:37 > 0:27:42'As an instructor on Apache gunships, Nick Wharmby spends his time flying at low level
0:27:42 > 0:27:46'often at night and at similar speeds to the Lancaster.'
0:27:46 > 0:27:49Nick, you've got to see this to believe it.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51That is fantastic.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55It's unbelievable. I cannot get over how claustrophobic this is.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59You can imagine the nerves, can't you, climbing in,
0:27:59 > 0:28:03But this is an aircraft stripped down to its bare bones.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06This is built for one purpose. Bombing.
0:28:06 > 0:28:10It has a smell, hasn't it? It reminds me a little bit of my car,
0:28:10 > 0:28:15but it's kind of all metal and rubber and a bit of mustiness, too.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19You can imagine what it must have been like after five and a half hours in the air.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24- Let's go and have a look at the cockpit.- Yeah, definitely.
0:28:27 > 0:28:33Climbing through this has got more similarities with a submarine than a modern aircraft, hasn't it?
0:28:33 > 0:28:38Yeah, you're not wrong. This is not easy to clamber over at all, not when you're as unsupple as I am.
0:28:38 > 0:28:43Now try doing that in the dark and when the aircraft's manoeuvring and rolling.
0:28:47 > 0:28:50- Lancaster. - OK, Nick, you're the pilot,
0:28:50 > 0:28:54you've just sat down in this for the first time, tell me your thoughts.
0:28:54 > 0:28:59I'm quite impressed with the field of view, particularly over the shoulders.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03But those long wings, if you think they were going over the dams, targeting 60 feet
0:29:03 > 0:29:06and, from what we hear, slightly lower in some cases...
0:29:06 > 0:29:10From here to the end of that wing tip is kind of 50 foot, isn't it?
0:29:10 > 0:29:13So that puts it into some kind of perspective.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17- But in terms of the cockpit layout? - The rest of the layout, some of this has not changed.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20We've got a standard T with an altitude indicator,
0:29:20 > 0:29:23air speed, rate of climb.
0:29:23 > 0:29:28And then the all-important altitude didn't work below 100 feet.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30- HE LAUGHS - There's a snag.
0:29:31 > 0:29:33'And height was an issue.
0:29:36 > 0:29:40'Weapon trials continued, and while the Upkeep was spinning OK,
0:29:40 > 0:29:42'it was shattering on impact.
0:29:45 > 0:29:50'The only solution - to lower the height of release to well below 100 feet.
0:29:50 > 0:29:55'Introducing new danger to an unperfected process, time was fast running out.
0:30:01 > 0:30:05'With the release height now set at 60 feet,
0:30:05 > 0:30:09'the crews had to take their planes even lower.
0:30:09 > 0:30:11'Most relished the challenge.'
0:30:11 > 0:30:13An exhilarating experience,
0:30:13 > 0:30:16flying at 230 miles per hour in a Lancaster at low level.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22There was an occasion when we were flying back at 30 feet
0:30:22 > 0:30:29- and Les Munro flew underneath us. - Underneath?- Underneath us.
0:30:29 > 0:30:32But 30 foot is the height of this building behind us.
0:30:32 > 0:30:34There wasn't an awful lot of room.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37Joe wasn't very pleased with that.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42- You must have had the shock of your life.- We suddenly saw this aeroplane disappear in front of us.
0:30:44 > 0:30:47'Crews now had to step up their training.
0:30:49 > 0:30:53'Low-level flying continued, but now at night.
0:30:53 > 0:30:55'A potentially lethal combination.
0:30:56 > 0:31:01'The 30-tonne Lancaster was designed for flying at altitude.
0:31:01 > 0:31:05'Operating such a heavy beast at low level was extremely challenging.'
0:31:07 > 0:31:10If you think, you're manoeuvring this aircraft, turning it, banking it,
0:31:10 > 0:31:14low level, so I'm concentrating hard on the wing, over the water,
0:31:14 > 0:31:17in the dark, but possibly, particularly in a left-hand turn,
0:31:17 > 0:31:20I'm now belly-up to some of those spurs and pieces of ground
0:31:20 > 0:31:25which are as much a threat as the water, so I can't see those,
0:31:25 > 0:31:29and the aircraft, when you roll on an angle and bank, wants to slip out of the turn.
0:31:29 > 0:31:33If an aircraft's going that way and I want it to go that way, you've got to pull some G,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37- but you can only pull 1.8 G in these aircraft.- Is that not a lot?
0:31:37 > 0:31:40That's not a lot at all. So you're working very hard,
0:31:40 > 0:31:42you've got to anticipate those turns, basically.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46Whereas the medium-level bombing, not an issue.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50- Cos you've got lots of free air. - You can hit air as fast as you like, doesn't hurt a bit.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53So very new skills for these crews to learn.
0:31:55 > 0:32:00'As the crews pressed on with mastering and taming these great machines in new flying conditions,
0:32:00 > 0:32:04'Barnes Wallis had at last made a breakthrough with the bomb's shape.
0:32:04 > 0:32:09'On 18th April 1943, the bomb casing again shattered
0:32:09 > 0:32:13'and the cylindrical core holding the charge had continued to bounce.
0:32:13 > 0:32:18'The Upkeep had now found its final form. And in the nick of time.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23'It was also smaller and easier to hoist into the 20 modified Lancasters
0:32:23 > 0:32:25'now arriving at Scampton.'
0:32:25 > 0:32:29That created a certain amount of curiosity
0:32:29 > 0:32:33as far as what were these planes, what were we going to do with these?
0:32:33 > 0:32:38And eventually that curiosity was solved with the arrival of the Upkeeps themselves.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Certainly, when the Upkeeps were spun in the trial drop down there,
0:32:42 > 0:32:46I think out of 12 aircraft, six were damaged
0:32:46 > 0:32:49by splash from the water through the pilots flying either too low
0:32:49 > 0:32:53or too slow, and I was one of the culprits.
0:32:57 > 0:33:02'Training was nearly over, the raid just days away.
0:33:06 > 0:33:09'For wireless operator Charlie Williams,
0:33:09 > 0:33:11'the demands of training meant a further strain,
0:33:11 > 0:33:15'with fewer opportunities to see his fiancee, Bobbie.'
0:33:15 > 0:33:19Charlie Williams really is just an ordinary bloke. He's already tired.
0:33:19 > 0:33:25There's lots of references to how exhausted he's feeling, he's flown 28 combat operations already
0:33:25 > 0:33:27and he wants out.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30"I'm very glad, darling, that you were there
0:33:30 > 0:33:32'for the take-off and return. Now you will realise
0:33:32 > 0:33:35"what a strain we're under the whole time
0:33:35 > 0:33:38"and will not now wonder why our nerves are bad at times.
0:33:38 > 0:33:42"You will have an idea what we feel like every time one of our pals fails to return."
0:33:44 > 0:33:50'During the raid, each of the seven-man crew knew they would have a crucial role to play.'
0:33:50 > 0:33:53All the time the pilot's concentrating on this,
0:33:53 > 0:33:58he's got a navigator speaking to him, the bomb aimer calling, "Dummy run, yes or no?"
0:33:58 > 0:34:01he's got the two gunners talking about possible threats.
0:34:01 > 0:34:06And they've got to be at a specific speed, at a specific height, on a specific heading,
0:34:06 > 0:34:10centred on the dam, everything's got to add up.
0:34:10 > 0:34:16Ultimately, it comes down to the bomb aimer to make that final decision and the crew have to go with him.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20'Training was now over.'
0:34:20 > 0:34:23By Sunday 16th May, everything was in place.
0:34:23 > 0:34:25The chiefs of staff had given the go ahead.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28The crews were trained, the Upkeep was ready
0:34:28 > 0:34:31and even the weather conditions looked to be ideal.
0:34:31 > 0:34:35It was finally time for the crews to find out what their targets were.
0:34:35 > 0:34:37'There were briefings all day.'
0:34:37 > 0:34:41About three o'clock, Tannoy message, "All 617 Squadron to the operations room".
0:34:41 > 0:34:46And then we discovered for the first time what we were going to do.
0:34:46 > 0:34:48We were all briefed together.
0:34:48 > 0:34:54It was quite surprising when you found out what you were actually going to be doing.
0:34:54 > 0:34:58My God, that was a briefing. Of course, Gibson was there.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01And the various other specialists.
0:35:01 > 0:35:07The weatherman, the signals man and, of course, Barnes Wallis. He was there, too.
0:35:07 > 0:35:12We walked in and the first thing we looked at was the operations map up on the wall
0:35:12 > 0:35:17and saw that it led to this area east of the Ruhr.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23'There were to be three waves of bombers on two separate routes,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27'selected so they crossed at undefended parts of the enemy coast.
0:35:29 > 0:35:34'The first two waves were staggered so they arrived at the primary targets at the same time.
0:35:37 > 0:35:42'A third reserve wave would follow on a few hours later.
0:35:44 > 0:35:46'With the mission revealed at last,
0:35:46 > 0:35:50'the crews had just a few hours to make their final preparations.
0:35:51 > 0:35:55'All recognised the dangers ahead.'
0:35:55 > 0:35:59I've always been struck by that incredibly statistic that out of the 110,000 people
0:35:59 > 0:36:04who flew for Bomber Command, a staggering 55,500 never made it home again.
0:36:04 > 0:36:07I think there's a danger of us thinking of 617 Squadron
0:36:07 > 0:36:11as being somehow the top gun of Bomber Command,
0:36:11 > 0:36:13of being some super-elite.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16They weren't. They were just ordinary guys,
0:36:16 > 0:36:19made up of people like Charlie Williams.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23'Charlie now knew his target. Not that he could reveal it.'
0:36:23 > 0:36:287:30pm, that's just a couple of hours before they take off for the dams raid.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31He obviously knows what he's about to do.
0:36:32 > 0:36:34"I will have a lot to tell you when I do see you, darling.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36"And I can only hope it will be very soon.
0:36:36 > 0:36:41"This letter will have to be short, dear, as I have very little time and have work to do."
0:36:47 > 0:36:54It was a very pleasant day. The weather was very good. We didn't leave till after midnight,
0:36:54 > 0:36:57so we were able to see the others go.
0:36:57 > 0:37:00They left a couple of hours earlier, around ten.
0:37:07 > 0:37:11Even before they boarded the aircraft,
0:37:11 > 0:37:14there was this eerie feeling.
0:37:14 > 0:37:20A comment made by Ken Earnshaw, who was very close to my dad,
0:37:20 > 0:37:25and he told my dad, he said, "I don't think we're coming home".
0:37:43 > 0:37:48'Even flying below the radar at 100 feet, the Lancasters could still be seen and heard.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55'When they were spotted, the Germans put up a wall of flack.'
0:37:55 > 0:38:01The low-flying part of it was the most dangerous part, I felt.
0:38:01 > 0:38:06Flying that low, you can't go down and you can't go up.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10On account of the anti-aircraft fire, you can't go up.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13Once you went up, you were a goner.
0:38:13 > 0:38:16And, of course, you've got no room to go down.
0:38:16 > 0:38:20So you just had to plough through it.
0:38:22 > 0:38:26'When the second wave reached Holland, they ran into trouble.
0:38:26 > 0:38:29'Les Munro saw Vernon Byers's plane way off target.'
0:38:30 > 0:38:36I saw Byers's plane. He was off course and he flew over the island of Texel.
0:38:36 > 0:38:43And I saw his plane shot down, explode in a burst of flames.
0:38:43 > 0:38:47I can remember seeing the waves ahead of me on the shore
0:38:47 > 0:38:52and I gained a certain amount of height to clear the sand dunes behind the sea shore
0:38:52 > 0:38:57and I was losing height on the other side when I was hit by light flak.
0:39:00 > 0:39:03And one shell, just one shell hit me midships
0:39:03 > 0:39:08and blew a hole about 30 inches diameter in the side of the aircraft.
0:39:08 > 0:39:14And cut the intercom communication and severed the electrical systems and that sort of thing.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17And everything went blank.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20And I circled while I asked the wireless operator to check
0:39:20 > 0:39:23whether it was possible to restore inter-communications.
0:39:23 > 0:39:29He came back and said, "No, not possible." So I made that decision there and then to return to base.
0:39:29 > 0:39:36I had the dubious honour of being the first to land with a live Upkeep on board.
0:39:40 > 0:39:43'Former jet pilot and Vietnam veteran Joe McCarthy Jr
0:39:43 > 0:39:46'can imagine what it was like for his father.'
0:39:47 > 0:39:50You're not flying on autopilot or anything like this.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54You're flying the airplane, having to lug it around, you're dodging pylons,
0:39:54 > 0:39:59worried about flak, trying to stay on the route, you're making turns
0:39:59 > 0:40:02and you're so keyed up, the adrenalin is flowing through your veins.
0:40:02 > 0:40:06To me, I think it would be physically, physically tiring.
0:40:09 > 0:40:13'In order to appreciate the difficulties of flying a Lancaster attacking these dams,
0:40:13 > 0:40:19'I've asked pilot Carlo Ferrari to fly over each one following the exact course taken on the raid.
0:40:19 > 0:40:22'Carlo is flying a Beech 18,
0:40:22 > 0:40:27'a contemporary plane which, like the Lancaster, lacks modern hydraulics and navigational aids.
0:40:33 > 0:40:39'Just like the pilots on the raid, this is the first time Carlo has flown over the dams.
0:40:39 > 0:40:42'First the Mohne.'
0:40:43 > 0:40:50If you follow the rivers then you are sure that you will arrive on the dam.
0:40:50 > 0:40:54This one, it's visible from around ten miles.
0:40:54 > 0:41:00But the river by night, this is not the easiest thing to see.
0:41:02 > 0:41:06'As leader, Guy Gibson dropped the first Upkeep on the Mohne.
0:41:06 > 0:41:09'It failed to breach the dam.
0:41:09 > 0:41:14'Each of the dams provided a unique challenge. At the Mohne, the approach may look straightforward
0:41:14 > 0:41:18'but it was the only one that was defended by flak-gunners.
0:41:18 > 0:41:24'The element of surprise now gone, next up was John Hopgood.
0:41:24 > 0:41:27'His bomb aimer was John Fraser.'
0:41:27 > 0:41:33When my father took that final step, you know, to set up the bomb
0:41:33 > 0:41:37to attack the Mohne Dam, when he finally took command of the aircraft
0:41:37 > 0:41:42at that moment he told Hopgood to go around, because they weren't quite ready.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47But then that was when they got attacked and they had to drop the bomb, let it go.
0:41:50 > 0:41:57He tried to take the aircraft up to a height where they could bail out and get out.
0:41:57 > 0:42:02And when Dad bailed, he said the trees looked awfully damn close.
0:42:05 > 0:42:10'As well as coordinating the strikes, Gibson flew alongside the next two aircraft to attack
0:42:10 > 0:42:12'in an effort to draw the flak.
0:42:14 > 0:42:20'The Mohne Dam was finally breached by Dinghy Young in the forth Lancaster to drop its Upkeep.
0:42:20 > 0:42:25'The rest of the planes which had been attacking the Mohne were now switched to the Eder.
0:42:26 > 0:42:30'Meanwhile, Joe McCarthy and Johnny Johnson had reached the Sorpe.'
0:42:32 > 0:42:34This is the actual wall of the Sorpe dam,
0:42:34 > 0:42:39and its sloping earthen construction is the same the other side, which makes it really thick.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44This is why Barnes Wallis reckoned it was going to take at least six accurate hits to destroy it.
0:42:44 > 0:42:48But achieving that kind of accuracy was always going to be difficult.
0:42:48 > 0:42:53The crews had to swoop right down from the village over there. Then with just 7.5 seconds over the dam,
0:42:53 > 0:42:56had to rapidly climb and clear that tree line.
0:42:56 > 0:43:00And in moonlight and with the dam shrouded in mist.
0:43:01 > 0:43:07The next dam, it flowed from east to west.
0:43:07 > 0:43:11'For the aircraft, the challenge was flying along the dam wall.'
0:43:11 > 0:43:15Parallel? OK.
0:43:15 > 0:43:18That's amazing!
0:43:20 > 0:43:24'Bomb aimer Johnny Johnson had the task of dropping the Upkeep.'
0:43:24 > 0:43:29On our actual attack, when I wasn't satisfied, I called dummy run.
0:43:29 > 0:43:32If Joe wasn't satisfied, he just pulled away
0:43:32 > 0:43:34and left me to call dummy run.
0:43:34 > 0:43:38And our humorist, who was Dave Roger in the rear turret,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42after about the sixth or seventh dummy run,
0:43:42 > 0:43:45a voice from the rear turret, "Won't someone get that bomb out of here?"
0:43:47 > 0:43:51I know when they dropped the bomb, they estimated it was from 30 feet.
0:43:53 > 0:43:59And the wingspan is a little over 100 feet on a Lancaster.
0:43:59 > 0:44:04And here you are, at night, in some place you've never been before with hills
0:44:04 > 0:44:09and having to lug this airplane around, get it down, and drop it.
0:44:09 > 0:44:14I guess that's why they took ten tries before they were able to have everything right.
0:44:14 > 0:44:18Bomb aimer Johnny Johnson then let it go.
0:44:18 > 0:44:23When I said, "Bomb's gone", "Thank Christ!" came from the rear turret.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25But then, of course, it was nose up, straight away,
0:44:25 > 0:44:28because of hitting hills on the other side.
0:44:31 > 0:44:36'Throughout the raid, the successes and the losses were signalled back to base
0:44:36 > 0:44:41- 'by the wireless operators like Charlie Williams. - MORSE CODE BEEPS
0:44:43 > 0:44:49'At the five group operations room in Grantham, Harris and Wallis were following events as they unfolded.'
0:44:49 > 0:44:52The success of the operation still hung in the balance.
0:44:52 > 0:44:56Two crews had already returned home early, five more had been shot down.
0:44:56 > 0:45:00The Mohne had been breached but just one Upkeep had been dropped on the Sorpe.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03And the toughest challenge still lay ahead.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08'For me, the most daunting target of all was the Eder Dam
0:45:08 > 0:45:11'because of its steep hills and closed approach.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16'Will Carlo Ferrari agree?'
0:45:16 > 0:45:22Uh-uh. The first approach, I had to find out where the schloss is
0:45:22 > 0:45:26and then you can see it from a distance.
0:45:28 > 0:45:30I'm standing here on the wall of the Eder Dam.
0:45:33 > 0:45:37'Above me, Carlo is targeting the spot where I'm standing.'
0:45:39 > 0:45:42The problem is, this is really difficult terrain.
0:45:42 > 0:45:46They've got to get around that spit of land before they can turn in straight towards the dam.
0:45:48 > 0:45:54Heading around. You have to turn very steep.
0:45:54 > 0:45:56Our plane is pulling a pretty tight turn,
0:45:56 > 0:46:00but remember, the Lancaster is four times the size, 30 tonnes,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03and has a 9,000 pound bomb underneath it.
0:46:03 > 0:46:08'On the night, on his sixth run, David Shannon was the first to drop his bomb.
0:46:08 > 0:46:11'There was no breach.'
0:46:11 > 0:46:15Our plane is flying at 500 feet, but on the raid itself they were operating at just 60 foot.
0:46:15 > 0:46:22'Second up, Henry Maudslay. Three runs, bomb gone, still no breach.'
0:46:24 > 0:46:29By the time they reached the dam wall, they were flying no higher than that lamppost.
0:46:31 > 0:46:36Having passed the dam wall, they then had to clear that ridge of hills over there.
0:46:40 > 0:46:46- 'So what's Carlo's verdict?' - I was surprised by the shape of this lake.
0:46:46 > 0:46:52That you have to turn quite steep to the left to arrive at the dam.
0:46:52 > 0:46:57The last two dams, I wouldn't be able to do it by night.
0:46:57 > 0:47:02But this one, this is something for high-class pilots.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09'Last up was Les Knight.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13'Last plane, last bomb, last chance.
0:47:14 > 0:47:19'Three bounces, an explosion and then the dam finally gave way.
0:47:23 > 0:47:29'This footage from later that day was covertly shot by a German soldier on leave
0:47:29 > 0:47:31'and has only recently come to light.
0:47:34 > 0:47:41'A single Upkeep, detonated in the prescribed place against the dam wall, 30 foot underwater,
0:47:41 > 0:47:44'had vindicated Barnes Wallis and all those who had believed
0:47:44 > 0:47:47'in the possibilities of this extraordinary weapon.
0:47:53 > 0:47:57'Karl-Heinz Bremmer and Karl Schafer were both young boys when the dams were attacked.'
0:48:00 > 0:48:03TRANSLATOR: We were in the cellar, my parents, me and eight siblings.
0:48:03 > 0:48:06There was no bang or anything like that.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10There was a dull tremor, and when the planes were gone,
0:48:10 > 0:48:14my father went outside and said, "The water is coming."
0:48:14 > 0:48:18And we saw how, on the other side, in the forest,
0:48:18 > 0:48:23a wall of water of nine to ten metres came rolling through the forest.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26TRANSLATOR: And then I went up the hill.
0:48:26 > 0:48:29And then, at the end, we overtook some other people,
0:48:29 > 0:48:33and we only just made it up the hill.
0:48:33 > 0:48:36How we got through the water, I don't know.
0:48:36 > 0:48:41The people we had overtaken were all washed away.
0:48:44 > 0:48:50'In total, six of the Upkeeps had hit their target and two of the dams had been breached.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55'But there was a toll to be paid.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58'Eight of the 19 Lancasters were to be lost,
0:48:58 > 0:49:01'some before they had even reached the dams.'
0:49:04 > 0:49:07Two of the Lancasters that crashed en route hit power lines.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10This is where Barlow's came down, just a few miles inside Germany.
0:49:10 > 0:49:14We're pretty sure they were following the line of the railway
0:49:14 > 0:49:16which is just over there beyond the trees.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20But looking at those power cables really underlines just how low they were flying.
0:49:20 > 0:49:24Who knows why he struck them? Perhaps he looked down for a moment.
0:49:24 > 0:49:28But suddenly the Lancaster was engulfed in flames and ploughed into the ground.
0:49:28 > 0:49:35It came to a halt here, killing all on board. The wireless operator was Charlie Williams.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40'He'd been due to marry Bobbie the following week.
0:49:54 > 0:49:57'Charlie Williams was one of 53 airmen killed on the raid.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02'Three more, including John Fraser, were taken prisoner.
0:50:04 > 0:50:09'For the returning crews, exhaustion outweighed euphoria.'
0:50:09 > 0:50:13You didn't know that evening. You didn't know.
0:50:13 > 0:50:17You just ate and went to bed.
0:50:18 > 0:50:21It really wasn't until next morning that it hit you.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26That there were 53 people missing.
0:50:35 > 0:50:40The only thing that bothered you the next day was the lorry coming round
0:50:40 > 0:50:44to pick up the effects of the crews that didn't come back.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47That was not a good sight at all.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52'Analysis began immediately.
0:50:52 > 0:50:59'Les Munro, who had been forced to turn back early, remembers his run in with Gibson.'
0:50:59 > 0:51:05After the bulk of the crew had returned, Gibson came up to me and said, "What happened, Les?"
0:51:05 > 0:51:07I said, "Oh, I was hit by flak."
0:51:07 > 0:51:11He said, "You were too high", and turned round and walked away.
0:51:11 > 0:51:15He wasn't prepared to discuss my side of it with him.
0:51:15 > 0:51:19His view was the only one. And he indicated that that night.
0:51:21 > 0:51:23'For Gibson, there was nothing but praise.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27'Awarded the Victoria Cross by the King, he became a national hero.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32'And the accolades were entirely justified.
0:51:32 > 0:51:38'Just before the raid, Gibson had been so exhausted, his doctor had tried to ground him.
0:51:40 > 0:51:44'The following year he was killed in action.
0:51:44 > 0:51:48'In the days after, the raid was seen as a huge success,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51'and instantly caught the public's imagination.
0:51:51 > 0:51:57'Since then, it has been repeatedly re-appraised, not least by those who took part.
0:51:57 > 0:52:01'Joe McCarthy Jr remembers visiting the Sorpe Dam with his father,
0:52:01 > 0:52:04'the first time either of them had seen it from the ground.'
0:52:04 > 0:52:11He had his hands on his hips and he was looking and with a quizzical look on his face.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13And I said, "What's going on?"
0:52:13 > 0:52:19He said, "You know, if I'd seen this view, this dam and the hills from this angle
0:52:19 > 0:52:23"before the raid, I would have said it couldn't be done."
0:52:24 > 0:52:27'The Sorpe Dam was only damaged, not breached.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32'Barnes Wallis had predicted six bombs would be needed to smash the Sorpe.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36'But most of the second and third waves hadn't made it.
0:52:36 > 0:52:40'So why had so many planes not reached the target?
0:52:40 > 0:52:42'What had gone wrong?
0:52:44 > 0:52:46'I've come to the Met Office archives in Exeter,
0:52:46 > 0:52:50'to see someone who may be able to throw some light on the matter.'
0:52:50 > 0:52:55Simon, I particularly want to talk to you because I've got a theory that the second wave,
0:52:55 > 0:53:00which was supposed to attack the Sorpe dam, crossed further south than everyone thinks they did.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03They were supposed to cross over at Vlieland,
0:53:03 > 0:53:06a little island off the north coast. I think they crossed at Texel.
0:53:06 > 0:53:09The first thing to look at is the navigation logs as they give us
0:53:09 > 0:53:12what the pilots were told during their briefing
0:53:12 > 0:53:14as to what they expected the weather to be.
0:53:14 > 0:53:17It clearly says here in the navigation logs
0:53:17 > 0:53:22that at 1,000 feet, the winds were expected to be calm, to the west of three degrees east.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25At that time, they didn't know anything about nocturnal jet streams.
0:53:25 > 0:53:31- Which is?- The nocturnal jet stream. It's where we have a very warm day,
0:53:31 > 0:53:34and typically occurs in the spring, very warm dry air at the surface,
0:53:34 > 0:53:39and at night, the sky's clear, all of that heat radiates out into space.
0:53:39 > 0:53:45We get a block of very cold air at the surface at very low levels, and above that, the warm air of the day.
0:53:45 > 0:53:49Now, where those two meet, you get a narrow channel of strong moving winds.
0:53:49 > 0:53:55- And they occur at low levels. - At 100-foot level? - Absolutely, at the 100-foot level.
0:53:55 > 0:53:58But back then, it wouldn't really be known about.
0:53:58 > 0:54:02If we look through the charts for Europe for the afternoon,
0:54:02 > 0:54:06there are observations from the Dutch coast, the Belgian coast, even on the French coast,
0:54:06 > 0:54:12that were telling us the surface wind was already north-easterly at 20, possibly even 30 knots.
0:54:12 > 0:54:17- And that's down at that 100-foot level?- That's actually down at the surface, 20 to 30 knots.
0:54:17 > 0:54:21And if you do hit a sufficient wind coming into the coast,
0:54:21 > 0:54:26it won't take a great deal to blow you two, three, four miles off course in a short period of time.
0:54:26 > 0:54:31So, if I get this right, you're saying that would have been sufficient to knock them
0:54:31 > 0:54:35- from Vlieland, where they're supposed to cross, to Texel here. - Yep.
0:54:35 > 0:54:39- Which is a matter of ten or 15 miles.- Absolutely.
0:54:40 > 0:54:43That's good enough for me.
0:54:43 > 0:54:48'So an undetected wind could have sent them over the flak batteries of Texel
0:54:48 > 0:54:53'rather than the undefended Vlieland and affected the raid's chance of a clean sweep.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58'Even so, the damaged caused should not be underestimated.
0:55:00 > 0:55:04'The raid had left a huge scar. And not just a physical one.
0:55:04 > 0:55:10'There was another impact. One that struck at the heart of German consciousness.'
0:55:10 > 0:55:13Of course, it was an enormous catastrophe.
0:55:13 > 0:55:18Although at the time, we didn't believe in the final victory anymore.
0:55:18 > 0:55:23When the dam was broken, we thought, "Now we have no strength left."
0:55:25 > 0:55:29'The timing of the raid was also disastrous for the Germans.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33'The strike against the dams could not have come at a worse moment.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36'Later that summer, the allies invaded Sicily
0:55:36 > 0:55:39'and the Russians pushed the Germans back at Kursk.
0:55:39 > 0:55:44'The huge cost and diversion of resources was one Germany could not afford.
0:55:46 > 0:55:49'The Mohne and Eder dams needed massive rebuilding.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52'And even the Sorpe had to be drained for repair.'
0:55:54 > 0:55:58You can understand why the Mohne Dam was one of the best-known buildings in Germany.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01It was a massive feat of engineering.
0:56:01 > 0:56:07But just imagine having to rebuild that in five months and in the middle of total war.
0:56:08 > 0:56:11'It's been argued that the impact of the raid was minimal
0:56:11 > 0:56:16'because the targets weren't important and the dams were rebuilt in five months.
0:56:16 > 0:56:18'This is total rubbish.
0:56:18 > 0:56:24'If the dams weren't important, why was the Nazi high command in such a hurry to rebuild them?'
0:56:24 > 0:56:27One needs to move away from the idea it just produced a flood.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31Of course it produced a flood and the flood did damage and disruption
0:56:31 > 0:56:36and that's important. But actually, what was much more consequential was the damage to industrial plant
0:56:36 > 0:56:41and the enormous resources required to both repair the industrial plant,
0:56:41 > 0:56:46to repair the breached dams, and then to deal with all the other dams and strengthen them,
0:56:46 > 0:56:51both strengthen them against bombing and also to provide proper anti-aircraft defences.
0:56:51 > 0:56:57All of that involved hundreds of thousands of man hours of labour.
0:57:00 > 0:57:06'In fact, the effects of the raid were lasting and its bigger consequences wide-reaching.'
0:57:06 > 0:57:10In recent years, historians have tended to downplay the successes of the dams raid.
0:57:10 > 0:57:17But I think that's wrong. Operation Chastise had many far-reaching effects, not all of them immediate.
0:57:17 > 0:57:21Just a few weeks after the reopening of the Mohne Dam in the autumn of 1943,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24Field Marshall Rommel took command of the Atlantic wall,
0:57:24 > 0:57:28a planned series of defences that ran all the way from Denmark down to western France.
0:57:28 > 0:57:33When he reached the Channel coast, he discovered there was barely a wall there at all.
0:57:33 > 0:57:37And one of the reasons for that was that many of the labourers had been transferred to Germany
0:57:37 > 0:57:40to rebuild the dams.
0:57:40 > 0:57:45Barely 12 months after the raid, an allied force set forth from ports all along the English coast.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51With the German defences still incomplete, the invasion was a success.
0:57:51 > 0:57:56Simply put, without the dams raid, D-Day would have been considerably harder.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02'And what now for Barnes Wallis?
0:58:02 > 0:58:08'This man of vision had shown that precision bombing could play an important role in ending the war.
0:58:08 > 0:58:14'Now returning to his original earthquake bomb, he developed the Grand Slam and Tallboy.
0:58:14 > 0:58:21'18 months later, it was Tallboys that finally sank the Tirpitz in its Norwegian fjord.
0:58:21 > 0:58:26'The mission was carried out by Bomber Command's elite precision force.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30'The squadron now known as the Dam Busters.'
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0:58:45 > 0:58:45.